Sports & Society Reading Group Meeting with Clinton Carlson
Underrepresented histories and voices are often overlooked in shaping our built environments and shared cultural narratives. Community-Activated Design is an approach that seeks to address this gap by using participatory, generative design methods to engage communities in shaping their own spaces, stories, and futures. By designing for, with, and through communities, Foundry Field–a public-access baseball field for children and adults located in South Bend, Indiana’s urban core–seeks to foster dialogue around race, access, and representation while strengthening local ownership and awareness of our rich histories. Carlson's presentation will explore Community-Activated Design strategies to create more inclusive, representative, and community-driven outcomes.
We hope you can join us!
Clinton Carlson is a designer, educator, and researcher that explores the use of community-activated design methods at two scales: at the micro-community scale his work explores how design can better serve in the communication of and advocacy for improved health and wellbeing; at the macro-community scale his work looks at how communities can take an active role in defining and designing future large-scale public systems.
As a researcher, Clinton has worked on projects that address underserved public interest issues such as: social safety nets, restorative justice, food recalls, student loans, teacher development, Dengue fever, suicide, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases. His work on these topics has been disseminated internationally through presentations, journal articles, and book chapters.
As an educator, Clinton has taught courses in graphic design, interaction design (UI/UX), and design research. Currently his teaching includes interaction design, typography, brand identity, and digital media design. His students’ have been recognized by Communication Arts, Adobe Achievement Awards, CMYK Magazine, and The National Student Show and other competitions.
As a designer, Clinton’s work has included for-profit and nonprofit organizations such as AT&T, Airtel, Toyota Racing, Intel, McGraw-Hill, World Vision, CARE, Compassion International, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and The Colorado Meth Project. His design work has been exhibited and published internationally including inclusion in the AIGA National Design Archives.